Classroom Rules: What would you add? Which rules would you emphasize?

HOTS, Commercials and Conversation

Higher Order Thinking Skills, or in their abbreviated form, HOTS, have been ubiquitously coupled (in Israel) with the understanding of literature, or, at best, with the analysis of all texts – be they fact or fiction.

Apart from the importance that HOTS do carry for the analysis of texts, I believe that HOTS can undeniably give cause to short, seven-minute conversations in the classroom. Indeed, what can be a nicer way to start off your 5^th or 6^th grade class than an engaging conversation about a funny commercial? (It certainly beats the leading conversation openers I've heard; "What's the day today? What was it yesterday? / What will it be tomorrow? How's the weather? Where do you live" etc., etc. etc…)

Following is a short list of some ideas to use before, during and after watching the commercial. And, equally important to remember – commercials are usually no more than one minute: an excellent length for YouTube integration!

A list of (what I consider to be) very funny commercials appears at the end of this blog entry.

Application (talking in whatever grammatical tense you, as a teacher, choose);

Prediction (what comes next? What will happen?)

Inferring (How do you think the guy/gal feels; why does "X" act in the manner he/she does…);

Comparing and Contrasting (two commercials for the same product);

Sequencing (retell the commercial in your own words);

Classifying (make a list of all the necessary actions leading up to the desired effect);

Cause and Effect (What were the results of "X's" action in the commercial? Would you buy the product after watching the commercial?);

Generating Possibilities (How could that issue have been solved differently; what would you do);

Making Connections (How would you feel if it happened to you; what commercials are you familiar with? What funny commercial do you know? Would this type of commercial 'work' in Israel?);

Distinguishing different perspectives (Is the concept "funny" culturally determined?);

Identifying parts and whole (How do the different parts of the commercial lead up to the "punch line" and to the desired effect of convincing the public to buy the product; discussing the new method of making sequels to an initial commercial);

Analysis (Why is it funny? What makes something "funny"? What makes people buy a product?);

Evaluating (Do you think this is a good commercial? Would it make you buy the product? Why yes/ why not?); Reflection (Why do you think we're talking about commercials in school? Which language skills are we practicing? Which thinking skills are we employing)

Commercials:

Japp Chocolate Bars (A series of Norwegian commercials for Chocolate bars…won award)

·        Japp and the Porsche

·       A speeding ticket and Japp

·        Japp and the Mafia

·  Brakes and Japp       

Mercedes – Benz: 

·       Beauty is nothing without Brains

Pepsi commercial

·       The Tibetan Connection

Creative writing in the classroom

Writing is a "must" in any language lesson. Writing helps you think, organize your ideas, evaluate what you've thought and how you've said it. Nevertheless, writing is usually the most neglected skill in our curriculum. At best, we model sentences and then ask our students to write similar ones, exchanging a noun/verb/adjective here and there. Especially now - with the advent of  21st century skills and their emphasis on creative and critical thinking, we need to begin "Creative Writing" in our classes.
Writing poetry is an "easy" way to begin writing creatively -be it haikus, diamond poetry or other forms of  preset structures. Poetry stems from our emotions; does not necessitate strict  grammatical structure and employs  numerous adjectives.
Please go to Ian's blog: http://esldog.blogspot.com/
Read his suggestions for beginning writing poetry in the EFL classroom. It's marvelous and can be done from fifth grade up, for sure.
In addition,  I strongly suggest reading his Dear Aunty letters - they are hysterical!
I am indebted to the Britih Council for introducing me to Ian's blog.

Collaborative Projects: What, Why and How*

A collaborative project is a student centered, joint learning venture.

·         It can be global, country, inter-city, or even just class based

·         It can be an inquiry, a quest, an exploration, or an exchange of ideas

·          It must have a clear English Language learning outcome.

·         It must require HOTS.

·         It must apply and develop ICT skills.

·         It must require interaction.

·         It must be motivating.

Suggestion for s Successful Project:

1. State clearly and succinctly:

• the goal
• the instructions
• the assessment

                                                                         

2.       Create projects that require the students to react to each other’s ideas: interaction!

3.       Stay small and concise.  Have a simple, specific objective; finish it and begin a new project.

4.       Prepare careful and simple instructions and limit your project stages.

5.       Provide links (for elementary students) but have the students create their content: facilitate and navigate: don’t ‘dictate”.

Suggestion for Topics:

·         My City: My Favorite Place

·         My Favorite Song (movie/book/TV show)

·         Comment on a Poem (read an online poem - add a verse/ illustrate/write your opinion)

·         Write an online school newspaper

·         Interview a “celebrity” (a student/ a teacher/ the principal/ the  janitor/ the secretary)

·         Questions and Answers (‘Dear Abbey…’)

·         Opinions on Controversial Topics

*I am indebted to the British Council, Learning Technologies Course, for some of the ideas appearing in this article.
Judymu

Action, Interaction and Reaction: The New Pedagogy

When the Ministry of Education talks about "bringing our educational system into the 21st century", it is pointing us in the direction of a change in our entire way of thinking about education - from the dual perspective of both student and teacher.
Three tenets compose this new philosophy:
1. A new literacy, based on media, information and communication, or, as it's known by its common name: ICT – Information communication technology (Enter: Internet!). Yet this is only one of the three principles that make up the new philosophy. Indeed, I consider it an "enabling principle".
2. A change in our thinking processes - a switch to creative and critical thinking (Enter: HOTS) which manifests itself both in the types of questions and assignments we give our students and in our own lesson objectives as well.
3. A shift to "connectivity" on the one hand and "autonomous learning" on the other; the development of interpersonal skills and collaborative work as well as individual research skills (Enter: Projects).
Unfortunately, many of us are forgetting principles 2 & 3; many of us are focusing on ICT in the classroom as if ICT is the be-all and end- all of the New Pedagogy; many of us are just integrating digital tools within our old type of lesson plan because we were told to do so.
So how do we implement the New Pedagogy in the classroom?
Three words: Action; Interaction and Reaction!!

THANK YOU CHANNI FOR THIS REMARKABLE YOUTUBE YOU SENT US!!!

HAPPY, KOSHER, RESTFUL, AND ENJOYABLE PESACH TO ALL!

http://jumu7777.glogster.com/glog-passoverjm/
Click on the link to see the full glog!

...and when PassOver is Over...

According to this wonderful song - there are at least 20 things you can do with your leftover matzo!

Passover is around the Corner

Who's that knocking at my window? It's not the little dreidle this time, (as the song goes), - it's the sound of crumbling matzos!
Yes, it's matzo time again!
For some nice suggestions and video clips - why not enter my MatzoMania wiki?
http://matzomania.wikispaces.com/space/about

Current Events Connection

How about opening your week with a current events connection? Why not start out the week viewing the BBC One Minute World News? By doing this you can enlist background knowledge and get the children talking in English about authentic situations.You can show it twice:
first viewing:have children think how many and which news stories are on; what countries the anchorperson is talking about...
second viewing:sound on - check your guesses and have the kids comment!
Let's be GLOBAL CITIZENS!

mlearning - learning by mobile devices (phones, Ipods..)

This is the latest direction that education is taking. Is this just a trend, a new fad - or do you think it's here to stay? Watch this video and post your comments!

Make Me A Maestro Magician

Start off your week with a magic trick! Give a student the task of being the Maestro Magician of the week. Have him prepare a magic trick of his choice and present it to the class!
Here's a link: Magic Fork and Knife Trick from MonkeySee
http://www.monkeysee.com/play/14147-cool-magic-tricks-fork-and-knife-morph

A Favorite Peter Weatherall Opening Song

Purim Rap sent in by Tania

Thanks to Tania and her friends, we have a wonderful Purim Rap - highly recommended if you want to do anything about Purim in your English classes... I'd concentrate on the chorus...
Thanks Tanya!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vTLxpz9HKs

Using YouTubes and Video clips in the classroom

The essence of a YouTube/video clip is its multi-media character. Take advantage of this to reach the widest spectrum of learning styles.
You are showing a movie in class!
Besides the obvious use of teaching songs and karaoke, here is an uncompleted list of suggestions:

• Use it for prediction: show a bit...pause...what will happen? What is out topic about? (Speaking English) -HOTS
• Use it for writing sentences: show a bit...pause...decribe what you see/saw in the picture (Writing descriptions)
• Use it for inferring: show a bit... pause....how do you think x feels? Why did he do what he did? (Writing or discussion) - HOTS
• Use it for comparing and contrasting: show a bit... pause...how does this version compare with our other version? (Speaking or filling in a chart)-HOTS
• Use it for sequencing vocabulary items as they appear; numbering items as they appear: selecting certain activities from a list which appear on the screen - HOTS
• Labelling and listing - classification: make a list of all the xxx (according to your target vocabulary) you see -HOTS

These are just a few ideas that you can use when you show a video clip...
Remember - 2'30" minutes is long.
Plan and prepare!

Thinking question: What can you do with a video with the vision off and the sound on?

Don't "over- ICe your T" ( you'll dilute it)

That was supposed to be a pun - if you put too much ice into your tea - you will dilute it; and the tea will lose its essence.
I've begun going out into the field - and this is one of the problems I've been encountering:
teachers are making extravagant PowerPoint Presentations; or finding exciting (and long!) YouTubes....or other interesting sites...but in all this creativity - and I am definitely for creativity - teachers are losing the essence of their lesson objectives.
The essence of an English lesson is English.
It's simple.
Ask yourself:
Does the ICT I chose promote language acquisiton?
Does it help practice the productive side of language - speaking or writing (communication)?
Is what I'm doing worth the effort put into preparing it?
Is the language in the chosen ICT appropriate to my audience - and if not - have I taken the right steps to enable this application to be useful?

Welcome Aboard - Let's Begin!

Dear counselors, teachers and friends in Israel and abroad!
This blog is the opening stage of a journey into cyberspace and cybersharing... it will take us to unknown territories, to interesting and special "coves" of ideas and activities; to heights from which we can overview activities, connect and relate... 
Here is a sharing spot where we can post our classroom activities and reflections, successes and failures, ideas and ICT desires...
This blog was created by me for us to post successful lesson plans; reflections about both successful and unsuccessful lessons; ideas; questions; great links we've found and a call asking friends to suggest ways in which to implement them.
You'll find links to terrific blogs that can help us.
You'll find links to ethical cyber situations.
You'll find original PowerPoints created by us for us.
As we grow and become more involved in implementing ICT into classrooms, so will this blog grow and expand, and hopefully become a hub of activity for teachers interested in creative and critical teaching.
Welcome aboard!